December « 2008 « BartBlog

December 17, 2008

Axl Rose and Chinese Democracy owe the Chinese an apology

Filed under: BartCop Page,Music Review — N @ 8:49 pm

Axl should just apologize to the Chinese now and get it over with. With that over let’s head straight for the heart of the matter: The first Guns n Rose’s album in 13 years is to put it plainly, a pile of decayed roses lying in a mound of dog shit. At times the album is wildly off the map, completley horrible and way unhinged none of which is a complement. Rose has taken all that was good from the original Guns, the very ingredients that made them the biggest rock band in the world, loud slashing guitars, a punk rock beat and his primordial wailing and turned it into a circus. By taking 13 years of studio time and compressing it into a disc of ridiculously overdubbed guitars, orchestral fanfares, strange hip-hop electronics, metallic tabernacle choirs and his sometime-virile rusted-siren singing he has produced a record not worthy of the band’s name

This is not the Guns n Roses I knew back in the 90’s. This version is one crazed musician’s attempt to prove that he could be Guns all by himself. Clearly he has failed. If all those session musicians used on the album from, Buckethead to the Replacements’ Tommy Stinson, had stayed the hell away from Rose maybe their careers would be in better places than they are now. As for Axl, hopefully it will be another 13 years before he tortures our ears again.

Like or hate this review or just got something to say about music let me know at n-music-critic@live.com

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Where’s my Flying Car?

Filed under: Commentary,News,Opinion — Obi Zen Folksinger @ 12:35 pm

Where’s My Flying Car? (A Question For The Big 3 On The Occasion Of Their Bailout)

I live in the future. I can tell; I have a telephone in my pocket and I am typing this on a home computer. So, where’s my flying car?

http://mrfuture.com/2008/11/10/from-england-to-timbuktu-in-a-flying-car/

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December 16, 2008

Fourth Stooge

Filed under: Toon — Peregrin @ 7:02 am

Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!

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December 15, 2008

Ye Olde Scribe Presents: Vengeance IS Mine, Saith the LORD

Filed under: Commentary — Ye Olde Scribe @ 10:52 am

“First in the series of Tales told Based on True Stories Ripped from the Headlines.”

True Headline:

Fire hits Palin’s church in Alaska

“‘Craft’ ladies escape.”

YOSNS (Ye Olde Scribe News Services)- Friday night a suspicious fire struck Appallin Palin’s church. No common sense survived, not that there was any there to begin with. A “craft group” escaped, bringing their cauldrons and pig snouts with them. Sarah the Shrill, wasn’t present.

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December 14, 2008

The Tattlesnake – Big Media Blago Beat Blow Out Edition

Filed under: Commentary,Opinion — Tags: Altercation, AP, Big Media, Charles Pierce, Chicago, Chris Matthews, Democrats, Eric Boehlert, Illinois, Jamison Foser, Liz Sidoti, Media Matters, MSNBC, Political Corruption, Rank Stupidity, Republicans, Rod Blagojevich, RS Janes, Tags: Barack Obama, Tattlesnake — RS Janes @ 7:48 am

Bored and Lazy Big Media Drooling to Catch Obama in Blagojevich Dragnet

Have you noticed? The Big Media have been desperately trying to shoehorn Barack Obama into the ethical problems of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, even though there’s not a particle of evidence that he was in any way involved. The Chris Matthews Crank-It-Up-Loud-and-Stupid Machine over at MSNBC presented a good example of the ugly process in action:

“MATTHEWS: Barack Obama, of course, rose to political power in a city, Chicago, in a state, Illinois, known for corruption. But Fitzgerald made clear that Obama was not implicated today. Here he is, quote, ‘The complaint makes no allegations about the president-elect whatsoever.’ Obama said this afternoon that he had no contact with Governor Blagojevich over who was gonna fill that Senate seat.

“Still, there are many unanswered questions, including that one. What conversation did occur between Blagojevich and Barack Obama about who would fill his Senate seat once he became president? Obama said this afternoon there were none at all.

“What conversations, if any, did Governor Blagojevich have with Rahm Emanuel about his replacement as a Democratic candidate in the special election in Chicago? Will this Illinois scandal in any way distract Obama from dealing with the financial crisis? What happens to Obama’s Senate seat now? Who gets to fill it? The disgraced indicted governor? The state legislature? Who? And what is it about Illinois that seems to make the state’s politics so relentlessly corrupt?”
– Chris Matthews, “Hardball,” Dec. 9, 2008, as quoted by Media Matters.

Jeepers, Tweety, that’s one Olympic leap of pure, empty, pull-it-out-your-keester speculation. Wasn’t Matthews once seen in a public men’s room in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during the Republican National Convention? Wasn’t Sen. Larry Craig convicted of soliciting men for sex in a similar place? What does this say about Matthews? And what is it about Minneapolis that seems to attract so many gay men to their public facilities? There are some ‘unanswered questions’ concerning Mr. Matthews’ conduct in Minneapolis during the Republican National Convention and the American people demand answers. (See the way this works? Take even the most tenuous, ridiculous association and blow it out of proportion ending with the dire ‘unanswered questions’ malarkey. There are always ‘unanswered questions’ about everyone and everything – it’s just that most of them are time wasting and ludicrous. Eating in a restaurant where mobsters occasionally dine does not make you a Mafia kingpin, except in the RNC’s Bizarro World of infinite guilt-by-association and silly questions.)

As far as the ‘relentlessly corrupt’ Illinois, Tweety and his pals should check some other states such as Alaska, Alabama and Florida, all of which ranked ahead of Illinois in the number of political scandals between 1998 and 2007. Wait, as Jamison Foser at Media Matters recently noted, USA Today already did: “[O]n a per-capita basis … Illinois ranks 18th for the number of public corruption convictions the federal government has won from 1998 through 2007…”

This is the line of ‘logic’ being used as the BM line up to slather over yet another invented ‘scandal’ for Obama — already they’re trying to make this his ‘Blagogate.’ Even the New York Times has the green-eyeshade on backwards as it attempts to conflate Obama’s passing acquaintance with Blago with involvement in some sort of shady business with the Rodster. As Eric Boehlert points out:

“The larger point is that in order for the Beltway press to gin up the Blago story this week, basic journalism guidelines had to be set aside and in some cases brazenly ignored. That’s the only way this story worked because simply reporting the facts as presented by the prosecutors would have made it painfully clear that, in terms of Obama’s involvement, there was none. In fact, Obama had thwarted Blago’s money-making scheme.”

But the worst of the bad lot was Liz Sidoti of the (Guilt By) Associated Press. In her December 10th article “Analysis: Scandal threatens to dog Obama,” she actually kicked off with these two vapid, meaningless paragraphs:

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December 12, 2008

The Gray Nomads

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: Ayers Rock, Bush-bashing, Gray Nomads, RVing — Bob Patterson @ 9:33 pm

A number of experienced Bush-bashers may be retiring next month and so, as a columnist who can offer perceptive insightful comments on a smorgasbord of topics, we will pass along this suggestion on how to spend their time while going “cold turkey.”

Qantas has spent a few bucks on backing for the movie “Australia,” in the hopes of boosting tourism. They may be overlooking the biggest niche audience. When (If?) this columnist return to the U. S. A., the people who will get the most enthusiastic reports (and urgings to “go see for yourself”) will be my high school classmate Jersey Bill and his wife Marcia, his brother Andy and his wife Dianne, and my good pal Susan. In the U. S. a good many older folks buy an RV camper and blog about <a href =http://thehitzels.blogspot.com/>their travels</a>.

If Qantas (or whoever) were to use their promotion budget to put ads in RV and 4WD magazines they would be reaching the audience most y to enjoy a vacation in Australia. Many Americans think that roughing it means staying in a hotel without room service, but folks who have roamed about the U. S. in a mobile home are the best suited to rent a van in Australia and feel comfortable contending with the challenges of being “on the road.” Most Americans are not good candidates for buying a hosteling adventure/vacation. They are also not likely to want to travel around in a van and do their own cooking.

It is easy to imagine Jersey Bill and his wife parking their own vehicle and renting one in Australia and seeing new scenery and meeting new “snow birds.”

It is a common sight in the Perth area to see a vehicle on the streets with a snorkel. That indicates that the four-wheel drive enthusiasts in the U. S. A. would find like-minded people if they could rent a rig and explore Western Australia.

If Qantas thinks that all Americans are clones of Ansel Adams and/or David Plowden who would relish any challenge to be able to photograph some magnificent scenery, they may be underestimating the comfort level that many American travelers require.

RVers and 4WD enthusiasts are more likely to be able to cope with unexpected snags and malfunctions.

Most Americans are not going to want to travel for a day to admire a pet rock that has been elevated to the status of national symbol, but the people who huddle together in RV parks in the U. S. A. are going to enjoy riding though the outback and (perhaps) tuning in to Triple J to sample the local music scene.

The Australians call traveling through the outback, bush-bashing, so perhaps some retired critics of President Bush would get a bit of satisfaction from indulging in just such a venture.

Jersey Bill and the others might want to start their fact finding about vanning in Australia by clicking to”The Grey Nomads” website.
http://www.thegreynomads.com.au/

Ansel Adams has expressed it thus: “It is my intention to present – through the medium of photography – intuitive observations of the natural world which may have meaning to the spectators.”

Now, the disk jockey will play a song (heard for the first time last week in Fremantle) that was a hit in Britain in 1967 for Clinton Ford, “Run For the Door” and we will head for Kalgoorlie. Have a sunny and warm type week.

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Important! Please do your thing concerning this. Grimmy

Filed under: Guest Comment — grimgold @ 11:36 am

Here’s the letter I sent to my senator, I suggest you do the same!

Dear Dianne Feinstein,
Chrysler is owned by the hedge fund, Cerberus Capital Management, L.P.
Why are taxpayers now being asked to bail out Chrysler when its owner refuses to do so?
I vigorously object to this auto bailout as long as it includes Cerberus. I shouldn’t have to bail out a hedge fund.
Please respond to my letter.
Sincerely

Below find info about Cerberus:

Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is one of the largest private equity investment firms in the United States. The firm is based in New York City, and run by 48-year-old financier Steve Feinberg. Former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle has been a prominent Cerberus spokesperson and runs one of its international units.
The company has been a very active acquirer of businesses over the past several years and now has sizable investments in automotive, sportswear, paper products, military services, real estate, energy, retail, glassmaking, transportation, and building products. In 2006, its holdings amounted to $24 billion.
On October 19, 2006, John W. Snow, President George W. Bush’s second United States Secretary of the Treasury, was named chairman of Cerberus.

Notable acquisitions
• Pharmaceuticals – In December 2004, the company announced the acquisition of Bayer’s plasma products business and renamed it Talecris Biotherapeutics.
• Paper products – The company acquired MeadWestvaco’s paper business for $2.3B in 2005 and renamed it NewPage Corporation. Cerberus also purchased, from Georgia Pacific Corporation, its Distribution Division/Building Products and all of its associated real estate. It renamed this new company BlueLinx Holdings, based in Atlanta.
• Government Services (Military, Energy, and Food & Drug) – owns IAP Worldwide Services, which bought Johnson Controls’ World Services division in February 2005, and Netco Government Services.
• Real Estate – Through investment affiliate Cerberus Real Estate, the company has been making direct equity, mezzanine, first mortgage, distressed and special situation investments in all asset types. It also controls Miami Beach.-based LNR Property, a large real estate development and investment firm through subsidiary Riley Property. Cerberus also controls Kyo-ya, a Japan based group of entities that owns several Starwood managed assets in California, Hawaii and Florida.
• Retail – Cerberus purchased 655 of the 2,500 Albertson’s, Inc., grocery stores, forming Albertsons LLC of Boise, Idaho, in June 2006. They also own Mervyn’s department stores, which was acquired from Target Corp. In June 2007, Cerberus acquired Torex Retail Plc., a retail solutions provider in troubled waters, for approximately 400 million US dollars.[2]
• Transportation – Acquired bankrupt ANC Rental, owner of the National and Alamo car rental chains, for $230 million in October 2003 and purchased DaimlerChrysler’s 45% share of debis AerFinance, an aircraft leasing business, in May 2005. Complete acquisition of debis AirFinance (later renamed AerCap) was concluded in July 2005. Also acquired North American Bus Industries, Optima Bus Corporation, and Blue Bird Corp. in the bus manufacturing sector. Cerberus also owns bus companies Coach America and American Coach Lines, which were acquired from Stagecoach Group.
• Automotive – Peguform, GDX Automotive, and Chrysler.
• Financial Services – General Motors sold a 51% stake in its GMAC finance unit to an investor group led by Cerberus Capital Management in November 2006. GM expected to receive $14 billion over the next three years from the sale of General Motors Acceptance Corp. In December 2006, Cerberus acquired the Austrian bank BAWAG P.S.K. for a reported EUR3.2 billion. In August 2007, Cerberus announced that it was closing one of their mortgage companies, Aegis Mortgage.
• Firearms – Acquired Bushmaster Firearms, Inc., from Windham, Maine native Dick Dyke for an undisclosed sum in April 2006, and purchased Remington Arms in April 2007. Under Cerberus direction, Bushmaster Firearms acquired Cobb Manufacturing, a well-respected manufacturer of large-caliber tactical rifles in August 2007. Cerberus also announced the acquisition of DPMS Panther Arms in December 2007.[3][4] Remington Arms acquired Marlin Firearms in January 2008.[5][6]
• Entertainment – Acquired a group of seven television stations, Four Points Media Group, from CBS Corporation in 2007.[7][8]
• Other holdings of the investment group include Formica, Inc., and the Aozora Bank in Japan; and cable operator Galaxy Cable.
• In 2007 Cerberus took over Corvest a promotional products company based out of Largo, FL with arms based in Simi Vally, Ca & Thorfare, NJ.

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